The present invention relates to the display of diagnostic images. It finds particular application in conjunction with the display of real time CT images and will be described with reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the invention will find application in conjunction with the display of other video images including video images from other medical diagnostic modalities.
Traditionally, a CT scanner generates digital images that are later retrieved and displayed on a CRT monitor. A CT operator controls the scanning process and reviews the images as they are generated. The CT operator monitors each image for quality control purposes. That is, the CT operator reviews the images to be sure that they are good quality pictures that are complete with balanced gray scale. If the images have notable quality defects, the operator adjusts the scan parameters for subsequent scans and rescans any areas corresponding to unacceptable images. In the past, a new image was generated every 20 to 25 seconds. During this time, the operator could bring up previously generated images for further review, gray scale enhancement, or other cosmetic adjustments.
Typically, the diagnosing physician views the images offline at some later time. The images, which are stored on disk, are retrieved and displayed in a physician viewing room. Film copies of physician designated images are often made for the patient records. In other instances, film copies of the generated images are made first and the physician reviews the film copies rather than video monitor displays.
This delay in presenting the images to the diagnosing physician can be detrimental, particularly in trauma cases. In some instances, the diagnosing physician will stand behind the operator and watch the images as they are generated. However, this procedure has proven relatively unsatisfactory for diagnostic purposes. Diagnosing physicians normally do not diagnose from a single image. Rather, physicians normally compare a plurality of images. The images may represent healthy and affected tissue. The healthy image could be from a CT slice displaced from but close to the affected area or could come from the patient's file. Commonly, a multiplicity of images representing the affected area and tissue surrounding it are reviewed.
The CT operator and the physician often have conflicting adjustments to the displayed CT image. The CT operator makes adjustments for a cosmetically good image with a full range of gray scale. For diagnostic purposes, it is sometimes convenient for the physician to make a radical adjustment in the gray scale to emphasize some feature of the affected area, possibly at the expense of destroying the diagnostic value of the other portions of the image. When the physician is only adjusting the display of an image recorded on disk, such adjustments are no problem. However, making such adjustments to images being reviewed in a quality control fashion could adversely affect the diagnostic value of the stored and subsequent images.
The present invention provides a new and improved physician viewing arrangement which overcomes the above-referenced problems and others.